"The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings" is a collection that displays the full force of Edgar Allen Poe΄s mastery of both Gothic horror and the short story form. This "Penguin Classics" edition is edited with an introduction and notes by David Galloway. This selection of Poe΄s critical writings, short fiction and poetry demonstrates his intense interest in aesthetic issues, and the astonishing power and imagination with which he probed the darkest corners of the human mind. "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a slow-burning Gothic horror, describing the final hours of a family tormented by tragedy and the legacy of the past. In "The Tell-Tale Heart", a murderer΄s insane delusions threaten to betray him, while stories such as "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Raven" and "The Cask of Amontillado" explore extreme states of decadence, fear and hate.